Episode Twenty - Nobu

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She wakes up breathless, scream catching in her throat. Matt is gone. She can't hear him, can't sense him anywhere near. Her heart is hammering. She doesn't remember the nightmare- only that James was there. That James was dying and calling for her, that Rot was there too, folding over her skin and screaming.

'Evren. Evren you are alright.' Rot announces, curling over her hand and arms, heaving her up. She shakes her head, bringing her hand to her temple. 'I am here.'

"I know, I know." She mumbles, clenching her eyes. "I'm here, too."

She throws her legs over the edge of the couch, pushing herself into a stand. She nearly jumps when Matt throws his way inside, slamming the door, tossing his cane to the floor. He heaves in a deep breath, shoulders slumping. Before she can even open her mouth, he cuts her off.

"Fisk killed someone. Elena Cardinez." He speaks fast, in a controlled monotone laced with fury. He opens the closet where his black suit is.

"Did you know her?" She asks, watching as he takes a deep breath and paces in tight circles, rubbing his jaw, before he simply stands still, staring towards the trunk. "What are you going to do?"

"Find Fisk." He answers, and says nothing else. He takes off his jacket, and she leaves the room, walking towards the kitchen. She'd rather him dress angrily in peace, even if she's just across the area. She keeps her back to him, carefully.

"I'm going with you." She says, filling a cup with water and downing it. He sighs, curtly, then swings out the window, climbing up to the roof with ease. She shakes her head before following after him. Rot covers her skin as she leaves the window, whittling it behind them. She lets it control their body, worrying over just who Fisk killed. A friend of Matthew's? A family member? Does Fisk know who Matt is?

They follow him, lagging behind, but keeping him in their hearing range. Besides, if they do somehow lose him, he'll leave a scent trail they can follow. Even as Matt drops into alleyways and beats people into writhing masses, they follow. They follow as he breaks a man's arm in an abandoned school bus, then to a neighborhood crawling with junkies. They don't follow him inside, simply waiting on the roof. Their eyebrows raise when Matthew practically threatens to beat a druggie to death, voice harsh and dark.

Rot stops them from following Matt, who blindly rushed into a building, taking no care in who could be inside.

Rustling paper, Matt muttering more to himself than them. They can hardly hear what he's saying, just intelligible addresses that mean nothing to the two.

"I didn't come here for you." Matt says, suddenly, shifting his feet. They furrow their brows in confusion, tilting their head to hear better. They can't hear anyone but him, in that building.

"But I am the one you have found." A man says. The voice is familiar, sending shudders down her spine as she tries to remember who it could be. Feet thus against the ground.

"You were at the docks. With the boy." Matt says. She scowls. It only reminds her of the old man that's practically disappeared since then. She really doesn't like him that much.

"As were you." The man says, slyly. "With the old fool." That was unexpected."

"I'm not a part of his war." Mat says. She can't help but feel guilty. She isn't going to ignore the possibility of being in the war she's never heard of. She wouldn't be surprised anymore.

"You aided him. And, in the act, caused me displeasure." He has an accent she hasn't quit heard before- or can't remember. English might be his second language, maybe his third.

"Did Fisk send you? Is that why he paid that junkie to-" He scoffs beneath his breath. "A woman is dead, and for what? Just to lure me into some sort of trap?" She can hear them circling each other, waiting for the other one to attack first. Biding their time to fight.

"You are here, are you not?"

"I knew no one was in the building." Matt answers. She rolls her eyes. "Made that mistake with the Russians, learned from it."

"But you did not know I was here."

"No," Mat responds, carefully. "You slowed your heart." She scoffs, shaking her head.

'How could someone do that?' Rot asks, mirroring her own thoughts. She frowns. They didn't sense this person, didn't smell or hear them, even when they listened.

"Lowered your body temperature." Matt finishes. His feet shuffle, slowly. The opaque, yellowed windows keep him hidden from their sight. Evren and Rot can only guess what's happening.

"The old fool has taught you in our ways." The man responds.

"I told you- I'm not with him."

"Yet you're still a warrior-- deserving of a warrior's death."

"I came here for Fisk." Matt bites, concealing the anger she can still hear in his voice. "Guess I'll have to settle for you."

"I show you respect. You would be wise to return the courtesy."

"You'll have to earn it."

The man scoffs, and she can hear metal flying through the air, ringing. She winces at the sound. Matt flings the metal away. The two men trade hits- grunting and swinging, missing and hitting flesh. She simply listens, until she isn't sure who is who. She shuffles across the roof, edgling as close as she can, clinging to the walls. She couldn't even hear the man- even matt couldn't as he entered the body. What good will she do, when matt can fight well enough on his own?

After just a few moments she can hear a chain rattling and pained, angered cries from Matt- echoing those of a trapped animal. Like hers were, in that lab. Her skin crawls.

"Rot," she grumbles, trying to move them closer to the building. "What are you doing?"

'He deserves it.' Rot responds, haughtily. 'He's a bitch.'

"No, you're the bitch right now, Rot." She responds, pushing against its control. "Come on, he's getting his ass handed to him." The symbiote doesn't move. "Rot." She says, exasperated, "Come on. Don't want him to die, do you?"

'No. Just hurt.'

"Jesus christ." She grumbles, wriggling within the alien. "What's got your panties in a twist?"

Rot finally lets them move, rushing them towards the warehouse at the sound of a sinister voice.

"You are a worthy opponent. It is an honor to claim your life."

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